One of the longest-serving public officials in Louisiana has a debt to pay.

The office of Orleans Parish coroner Dr. Frank Minyard owes some of its counterparts tens of thousands of dollars, and one of them is taking legal action to collect.

Inside his Baton Rouge office, Dr. Beau Clark -- the newly elected coroner in the state's capital city -- wants to make one thing clear: He expects debts to be paid in full.

“They have essentially breached the law in my opinion," Clark said.

Minyard owes him tens of thousands of dollars -- a total of just under than $50,000.

It's a figure Minyard disputes, because he said he owes much more.

"No, we owe them $200,000" said Minyard at a Monday afternoon news conference.

Clark, a 39-year-old former police officer turned physician, said the man who's been in office in Orleans Parish as long as he's been alive has not responded to his efforts to collect on the debt, so the East Baton Rouge Parish attorney has filed a lawsuit against Minyard and Orleans Parish.

The dispute centers on the issue of mental health.

As the WDSU I-Team reported last year, coroners in Louisiana are able to use their powers to commit people who are sick, dangerous or delusional to mental health care facilities.

Records show that the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner signed papers to commit more than 4,500 people in 2012, many of them residents of Orleans Parish.

"The law allows if we do a committal on that person we can charge $100 to that parish," said Clark.

Clark said it's common practice to wait until the end of the year, then send a bill to each parish that owes money. And every other parish is square, except for one.

“The only parish I've had resistance from is Orleans," said Clark.

Clark isn't alone. An attorney who represents Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich said the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office owes his parish nearly $70,000 for signing commitment papers on people from New Orleans.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has urged Minyard to get his office in order, but in the end, the city of New Orleans could be on the hook.

"The people that come to the city for money have to do a better job of managing their assets," said Landrieu.

While Minyard's office owes some parishes, it's doing others a favor, according to numerous forensic pathologists.

Earlier this week the WDSU I-Team detailed a wide discrepancy in the fees being charged for "out of parish" autopsies -- when a coroner's office does work for a smaller parish that lacks the proper facilities. East Baton Rouge and Jefferson parishes take on such work and charge in excess of $1,000 per exam. Orleans Parish offers the service for just $300.

"We are trying to serve the common man here," MInyard answered when he was questioned by the I-Team about the low cost for autopsies.

Landrieu disagrees with the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office doing a service for other parishes.

“Whether it's public or private, it is not free and someone has to pay for it. So if you are asking the question, ‘Should New Orleans tax payers be subsidizing a service for people in other parishes?’ The answer is, ‘No,’” Landrieu said.

City leaders say the numbers concern them, and there are other practices in Orleans Parish that buck the norm.

Forensic pathologists working for Minyard can make thousands of dollars a year on top of their six-figure salaries because they're allowed to accept payment for testimony in out-of-parish trials.

If members of Minyard's team wind up in court, they can pocket up to $1,800 a day for their testimony even though the work was done during their regular shift using Orleans Parish resources.

"It's their time. And pathologists are like other doctors. Their time is their money. When we go and they lose a day doing something else, they need to be paid, and they are paid," said Minyard.

"At the end of the day, my citizens can rest assured that we went after the money," said Clark.

"We in turn commit three times as many people as they do, but we don't send bills to the other coroners. We just let it wash itself out because it's a bad bill, but it's all now going to play out in court," said Minyard.

Forty years ago, one of the greatest boxing matches in history took place in an unlikely setting: the capital of the Philippines. Muhammad Ali's epic win over great rival Joe Frazier in 1975 became known as the "Thrilla in Manila."